Heavy rain fills up second lake supplying Mumbai’s water

A second of the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai overflowed on Tuesday morning, after heavy rain in the catchment areas of Vihar and Tulsi.

The Modak Sagar lake reached its capacity last week.

While Tulsi lake has reached its full supply level of 139.17 metres, the city draws little water from the lake, which means the civic body will continue to keep water cuts in place, at least till October 1.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) still needs 3.5 lakh million litres of water to give Mumbai regular water supply throughout the year.

The BMC currently has a stock of around 11.29 lakh million litres. This will last the city’s water needs for another 240 days. BMC sources said the 20% water cut being imposed on the city will continue until water stock is filled to 14 lakh million litres.

“It is good news that it rained well on Monday night in the catchments of Vihar and Tulsi. Soon after, Tulsi started overflowing. But a decision on water cuts will be taken only after October 1, as we still need another 3.5 lakh million litres of water,” said Ramesh Bambale, deputy municipal commissioner (special engineering).

With reasonable amount of rain in the past week, lake levels are rising.

Tansa is just 0.75 metres from reaching capacity, while Middle Vaitarna is 0.25 metres away.

Bhatsa, however, is far from reaching full supply level — it is 7.5 metres from reaching full supply level.

“Bhatsa had almost reached its full supply mark by September last year, but because of a poor monsoon this time, a smaller lake like Tulsi itself took three months of rain to overflow,” said a civic official.